St. Louis on the Air

Noon-1 p.m. and 10-11 p.m. (repeat) Monday-Friday

Local Host
Don Marsh

Host Don Marsh

St. Louis on the Aircreates a unique space where guests and listeners can share ideas and opinions with respect and honesty. Whether exploring issues and challenges confronting our region, discussing the latest innovations in science and technology, taking a closer look at our history or talking with authors, artists and musicians, St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region.

St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh and producers Mary Edwards, Alex Heuer and Lara Hamdan give you the information you need to make informed decisions and stay in touch with our diverse and vibrant St. Louis region.

Host Don Marsh talks with Jason Plummer, a lumber businessman from O'Fallon. Plummer is the Republican candidate for Illinois’ 12th Congressional. The race pits Jason Plummer against Democrat Bill Enyart and Green Party candidate Paula Bradshaw. One of the candidates will replace U.S. Representative Jerry Costello, who is retiring after 24 years in office.

The final debate between the three candidates was last Friday at 7:00 p.m. at O’Fallon Township High School.

Host Don Marsh talks with Paula Bradshaw, an emergency room nurse from Carbondale. Bradshaw is the Green Party candidate for Illinois’ 12th Congressional. The race pits Paula Bradshaw against Republican Jason Plummer and Democrat Bill Enyart. One of the candidates will replace U.S. Representative Jerry Costello, who is retiring after 24 years in office.

The final debate between the three candidates is this Friday at 7:00 p.m. at O’Fallon Township High School.

Every other year, senior citizens compete in the National Senior Olympics. In Age of Champions, director Christopher Rufo shares the story of five athletes including sprinters, jumpers, and swimmers.

Host Don Marsh talks with Rufo and Bill Cannon, an 82-year-old swimmer from the St. Louis area who has earned more than 2,000 medals at the Senior Olympics. Age of Champions is set to make its debut on PBS in 2013.

Some of America’s newest voters in November will be people who were not born in this country but are newly naturalized citizens. Host Don Marsh talks with guests from the International Institute of St. Louis about the path to citizenship and with former students about the process.

Guests include:

Anita Barker, Vice-President and Director of Education at the International Institute of St. Louis

Elina Fernandez, naturalized citizen and former student at the International Institute

Dave Browning said incumbent Chris Koster has done a decent job “but is an unrepentant liberal.” He said Republican challenger Ed Martin doesn’t know what he’s doing. “I think the voters of Missouri need to have a chance to vote for someone who is conservative but not insane,” said Browning.

The path to victory is rarely easy for political candidates and it’s even more difficult for third party candidates. Host Don Marsh talks with Libertarian Jonathan Dine, candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri.

Show Highlights

“I think it’s possible to win this race if a few more Democrats and Republicans would come my way,”said Jonathan Dine.

Host Don Marsh talks with a panel of legal experts for our monthly legal roundtable. Among other things, they’ll talk about a Missouri drunk driving case making its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, an upcoming ballot proposal which would change the way judges are selected for the Missouri Supreme Court, and Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder suffering a setback in his attempt to derail President Obama’s health care law.

Clinical depression is called the world’s number one mental disorder and ranks only behind heart disease as the country’s most disabling condition. It is also dangerous because it can all too often lead to suicide. Andrew and Barbara Taylor and the Crawford Taylor Foundation have committed $20 million to Washington University to fund research on mental illness, with a sharp focus on depression.

The general election is less than one month away and candidates are making the final push for votes. Over the past 2,000 years, advances in technology have drastically changed the method of campaigning though, according to an ancient Roman text of campaign advice given to Marcus Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator, advice given then is just as applicable now.

Author and psychologist Steven Pinker argues that violence is on the decline. In, "The Better Angels of Our Nature,” Pinker says despite ongoing news about war, terrorism, and other crimes, violence is declining. Pinker also examines why people are pulled toward violence and debunks myths about violence.

Host Don Marsh talks with Steven Pinker about his book and thought provoking studies and analysis. Pinker spoke recently at the St. Louis County Library.

In April 2013, Clayton, Missouri will celebrate 100 years as a municipality. Host Don Marsh talks with author Mary Delach Leonard, who also writes for the St. Louis Beacon, about her new book, Clayton, Missouri: An Urban Story. Leonard traces the beginning of the community from a rural outpost to a progressive metropolitan hub. Mary Delach Leonard also highlights important city leaders who shaped Clayton and includes historic and contemporary photos of the community.

A recently released report shows there is a disparity in health care among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Missourians. The study by the Missouri Foundation for Health shows LGBT individuals have less access to health care and tend to be less healthy than the general population.

Host Don Marsh talks with Dr. David Ansell about his proposal to reform healthcare by fixing Medicare and providing it to all Americans. Dr. Ansell is the Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He is also the author of “County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital."

Physicians for a National Health Program in St. Louis are sponsoring talks by Dr. Ansell:

Childhood obesity is an epidemic which has tripled in the last three decades. Host Don Marsh talks with experts about the disease and ways to prevent it. Host Don Marsh talks with Amy Moore, a nutrition and dietetics instructor at Saint Louis University and Nancy Lieberman, President and Founder of GO! St. Louis.

Go! St. Louis is a local nonprofit organization which encourages individuals and families in the St. Louis region to adopt an active and healthy lifestyle year round.

Taking advantage of our community’s diversity can be a challenge. While people of different ethnicities, cultures, and ages are all around us we can often find ourselves on the outside looking in. Host Don Marsh talks with guests about ways non-profit and arts organizations can engage new and underserved communities and improve their diversity.

Term limits are a controversial topic in Missouri and there are persuasive cases both for and against them. Currently, the Missouri constitution limits state senators to two four-year terms and state representatives to four two-year terms.

President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney square off in Denver tonight in the first of their three scheduled televised debates. Host Don Marsh is joined by NPR Political Junkie Ken Rudin to talk about the importance of debates to the election process and what viewers should be looking for. We’ll also talk with Ken about some political races and issues closer to home.

The economy is identified as the top concern and voting issue in this presidential election. There is, however, a strong and sometimes overriding religious subtext on such issues as abortion, contraception, and same sex marriage. In advance of an upcoming lecture at Fontbonne University on “Faithful Citizenship: A Forum on Religion and Public Life,” host Don Marsh talks with some of the panelists about the intersection of politics and religion, engaging in a broad discussion though approaching it from the Catholic perspective.

Less than one week ago East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced a list of new measures in an attempt to curb recent violence in the city. Among the new rules is a curfew for all youth after 10:00 p.m. A ban from wearing royal blue or bright red clothing was also in effect for all men though the Mayor has since backed down.

Host Don Marsh talks with multiple guests about the new measures which stem from a deadly weekend in which an 18 year old man was stabbed to death and three young men died after being shot in the parking lot of a local club.

Tony La Russa won two World Series championships as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and another with the Oakland Athletics. He won four Manager of the Year Awards and has the third highest win total in Major League Baseball history. Host Don Marsh talks with La Russa about his career, the current season, and his new memoir, “One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season.”

For any community to grow and prosper, it’s important to open the door to new business and business expansion, to retain the talent we have, and make it a place in which people are proud and happy to live and visit. A key component to all of this is marketing and then delivering. Join host Don Marsh as we talk about branding St. Louis.

Campaigns to protect our environment and improve sustainability efforts are numerous and ongoing in the St. Louis area. Host Don Marsh talks with environmental experts about what has been done, what is being done, and what still needs to be done to further protect our planet.

US National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center

Finding effective treatments and a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is elusive. While most of what we hear about the disease is depressing, we may be on the threshold of some exciting discoveries concerning prevention. Washington University’s School of Medicine is in the middle of this new research and this hour, host Don Marsh is joined by Dr. John Morris, Director of Washington University’s Alzheimer’s Research Center, to talk about clinical trials aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

There is good and bad news when it comes to the latest government figures on poverty in America. The good news is that the poverty rate has more or less stabilized for the first time in three years, while the bad news is that the number of people living in poverty in the St. Louis area is well above the national average. Join host Don Marsh for a discussion about poverty and its ripple effects in the region.

The City Museum is a popular tourist destination in St. Louis and its co-founder, Gail Cassilly, says founding it along with her late ex-husband was one of her life’s highlights though it was also a life that had “crushing sorrows.” Host Don Marsh talks with sculptor and writer Gail Cassilly about her new memoir, Saltwater. Then, Don talks with a couple of St. Louisans who are mounting a national effort to officially change the name of Columbus Day to Exploration Day.

It can be emotional when children leave home to start life on their own. Parents are often saddened by the new arrangement but can also relish returning to life as they lived before children. Host Don Marsh talks with guests this hour about coping with the empty nest.

Some legal rulings leave us scratching our head but for widely different reasons. Don Marsh hosts our monthly legal roundtable. We wonder what a judge was thinking when she left important court decisions to her clerks, why a judge approved a sex change operation for a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, and other legal issues.